Sublimely ridiculous.
That pretty much is how I'd describe the leaning tower and it's surrounding environment - I spent a good while just sitting on the grass watching it. And the people posing around it. Briliant.
There is something about that tower that I love. I'm not sure whether it's the fact people continued to build it taller despite it leaning, tried to correct it and inevitably made it lean in the opposite direction and then topped it all off with a tilted 'hat' at the top to balance it up or perhaps it's the habit that Italians seem to have of beginning a project with one material in one style and finishing with something completely different... but it's great.
Then I visited the Duomo and Baptistry which are next door. I wasn't that impressed until I listened to the commentry - and I would put money on it being Sybil from Fawlty Towers or one of the Python girls reading a rough interpretation of the Italian description very quickly. And just so you'd realise when it was over, she finished with a 'end of description'. What more could you ask for.
Anyway, I'm off to wander around the town a little bit more.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Florence, Firenze, it's all the same thing...
*just a note if anyone is struggling because the blog page is in Italian, which happened to my mum... go to the homepage (www.blogger.com), look at the bottom of the page and click on 'lingua' - then you can change the language to whatever your heart desires*
Well, a quick list of the museums\galleries\churches\stuff I've been to in the last two days...
1. The San Lorenzo Church - has a few tombs designed by Donatello (it's also where he was buried), a painting by Fillipo Lippi, a painting which is an exact replica of the sky on July 4 in 16-something and where I was yelled at by a curator for leaning on the marble railing to look at the exact replica of the sky on July 4.
2. The Bibliotecca next to San Lorenzo - designed by Michelangelo, it has the coolest staircase ever. I want a library in my house just like it. There was also an exhibition which displayed medieval manuscripts (the highly decorated ones) with various fantasy images like dragons or griffins which was pretty cool.
3. The Leonardo Museum - not worth the €5 euro although if I wasn't convinced that the man was pretty damn smart I am now. And he was obsessed with war machinery.
4. The Bargello Museum - home to some of the greatest statues in the world, with a room dedicated to both Michelangelo and Donatello. My favourite was Michelangelo's earlier David statue, which was the first nude 'done' since the Roman classical era and looks like a transvestite. If I could have taken a photo, I would have.
5. The Historical Science Museum - two levels of science equipment from around the 14th century onwards, including Galileo's finger (yes, his actual middle finger from his right hand). Was much more interesting than it sounds - a gallery on sundials, on chemistry, on mechanical devices... ok, I'm a nerd. And one gallery which made me glad to be a 21st century woman - the surgical obstetrics waxworks. Eeewww.
6. Piazza Spangoli - basically an outdoor museum which statues dotted around everywhere, including a replica of the more famous 'David' (the one that doesn't look gay) - the original is now safely indoors. I did take a photo of this one but I can't get them onto the computer at this stage. Will keep you posted when I do.
7. Ponte Vechio - the only bridge the Nazi's didn't raze during WW2 and full of goldsmiths.
I was planning to visit the Uffitzi today but there are staff meetings, tour groups... plan to go on Sunday instead. So am really enjoying Florence.
Oh, and the coolest clock at the Science musuem - a ball came down a spiral and when it got to the bottom, it was thrown back up into the air and the clock reset itself. Pretty damn cool. Almost as cool as the one which wrote a set phrase every day (the clock movement moved a mechanical hand attached to a nib and inkpot.)
Well, a quick list of the museums\galleries\churches\stuff I've been to in the last two days...
1. The San Lorenzo Church - has a few tombs designed by Donatello (it's also where he was buried), a painting by Fillipo Lippi, a painting which is an exact replica of the sky on July 4 in 16-something and where I was yelled at by a curator for leaning on the marble railing to look at the exact replica of the sky on July 4.
2. The Bibliotecca next to San Lorenzo - designed by Michelangelo, it has the coolest staircase ever. I want a library in my house just like it. There was also an exhibition which displayed medieval manuscripts (the highly decorated ones) with various fantasy images like dragons or griffins which was pretty cool.
3. The Leonardo Museum - not worth the €5 euro although if I wasn't convinced that the man was pretty damn smart I am now. And he was obsessed with war machinery.
4. The Bargello Museum - home to some of the greatest statues in the world, with a room dedicated to both Michelangelo and Donatello. My favourite was Michelangelo's earlier David statue, which was the first nude 'done' since the Roman classical era and looks like a transvestite. If I could have taken a photo, I would have.
5. The Historical Science Museum - two levels of science equipment from around the 14th century onwards, including Galileo's finger (yes, his actual middle finger from his right hand). Was much more interesting than it sounds - a gallery on sundials, on chemistry, on mechanical devices... ok, I'm a nerd. And one gallery which made me glad to be a 21st century woman - the surgical obstetrics waxworks. Eeewww.
6. Piazza Spangoli - basically an outdoor museum which statues dotted around everywhere, including a replica of the more famous 'David' (the one that doesn't look gay) - the original is now safely indoors. I did take a photo of this one but I can't get them onto the computer at this stage. Will keep you posted when I do.
7. Ponte Vechio - the only bridge the Nazi's didn't raze during WW2 and full of goldsmiths.
I was planning to visit the Uffitzi today but there are staff meetings, tour groups... plan to go on Sunday instead. So am really enjoying Florence.
Oh, and the coolest clock at the Science musuem - a ball came down a spiral and when it got to the bottom, it was thrown back up into the air and the clock reset itself. Pretty damn cool. Almost as cool as the one which wrote a set phrase every day (the clock movement moved a mechanical hand attached to a nib and inkpot.)
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